Brent Spence would use electronic tolls, not booths

Discounts could be given for local, frequent drivers

It was myth versus reality Thursday morning as dozens of the area's political and civic leaders gathered for a tutorial on the Brent Spence Bridge project.

James Riley, the point person for the Ohio Department of Transportation on the $2.7 billion undertaking, dispelled any and all notions about funding possibilities.

"Real simple, not hiding behind it, this bridge can't be built in the near future without tolls," Riley said at the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments meeting.

Riley alluded to a study that is underway to determine the range of rate options, anywhere from $1 to $5.

He emphasized the planners are committed to keeping the toll price "as fair and as low as possible."

Whatever number officials settle on in the next several weeks, the rate for truck traffic will be higher than the rate for cars. They are also considering a discount for local trips, probably defined as within the Interstate 275 loop. Additionally, a frequent user rate is being explored.

Still, the questions about cost, fairness and uneven burden persist.

Steve Arlinghaus, Kenton County's judge-executive, brought up the $4 figure he's heard bandied about. "My wife, for example, will be spending $175 a month to go to and from work," Arlinghaus said. "If I start thinking about $4 a trip every time I cross that bridge, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Riley said the intent was to make sure the rate is kept as low as possible and that it does not dissuade people from using the bridge.

"If you look at it now, you're sitting in traffic and you're wasting more fuel, so you're spending money on fuel," Riley said.

Riley said citizens should factor in a value on their time, pointing out the new bridge will be state-of-the-art, and so will the toll collection process. There will be no gates or toll plazas or baskets, he said.

The plan is to use electronic tolling through sophisticated technology that enables drivers to pay tolls while driving at regular posted speed limits.

They call it "open road tolling," and it's a system that will either charge motorists through specialized cameras that capture plate numbers or through electronic transponders that automatically deduct a set amount from a prepaid account.

OKI estimates 172,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily. That's more than double the capacity it was built to handle.

Roughly one-third of the traffic is local, while the rest comes off Interstate 71 and Interstate 75 and moves through the region without a local intent or stop.

One panel participant asked whether local users could be exempt from the toll, while another asked about federal assistance. Concerns were also expressed about truck diversion and the impact toll avoidance could have on local businesses near the bridge.

ODOT and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are looking closely at all of these questions, and officials said the bottom line conclusion is never far from their thinking.

Without tolls, the earliest a new bridge could be funded through traditional means and built is 2040, officials have said.

To those who think that time frame is a scare tactic to force tolling, Riley said, "those are people who have no idea about how transportation is funded."

He describes the gas tax method as antiquated, saying the traditional funding mechanism does not move the ball forward.

To save as much on the cost as possible, ODOT is looking at shortening the span by 125 feet, thereby saving an estimated $50 million.

Riley believes shovel-in-the-ground construction can start in early 2015 and that both a new bridge and a renovated existing Brent Spence span can be operational by 2020.

But that will happen only if tolls go into effect, Riley said.

Copyright 2013 byWLWT.comAll rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.